The road to El DoItAll

Having converted my bianchi to a fixie skidder due to a groupset clusterfuck, I find myself freewheel-less and with no bikes with any space for mudguards or anything above a 25c.

So the plan is to go in phases as we're currently saving for a big party (or a wedding as I'm supposed to call it). So first up is to get the necessary stuff for the winter. Contrary to the current thoughts, I don't think disc brakes are dead, so in my head I'm thinking:

1. F&F: Steel or Alu with clearance at around 35/40c on 700c or larger at 650 (more on this below)
   
2. Wheels dt460db esque rims to 11spd hubs. Nothing amazing but sealed bearings would be ideal
   
3. Single speed to ease the budget to start, 105 cranks
   
4. Deda finishing kit
   
5. Cable discs, again with scope to move to hydro
   
   

Wheel size, I'm sorely tempted by 650 here. This bike will see mainly commuting miles with some Sustrans route 1 miles to Kent from home in Woolwich. Then some crabon for trying to go/look a bit faster. Given all the 650 builds on here recently, would people reccomend it for the above purposes? Plus some dog towing if I get round to building a trailer.

Frames, there are a few options. Further down the line I'd love an Orlo or a Quirk but first off let's keep cheaper. The PX Alu CX bike could be a goer but clearance could be shit. Will be scouring the classifieds for anything 50cm the fits the bill. CDF would be good but not had much luck finding anything small 2nd hand.

Links and pictures will be added when at a proper keyboard. @Turkish orlo and @jambon cdf have been a big inspiration.

Any advice or suggestions welcome!

Have found this which despite being a bit garish but be a good starting point given people's experiences.

Depending on how much you weigh I wouldnt even bother with hydros in the long run. Well set up spyres have enough power and cost 1/10th of the price these days.

Also negaatios orlo and psee's rych are always relevant (and are basically the bikes I copied for my 'all road')

From my experience I will say that it is worth budgeting for a bike you actually want, not one full of half-measures. Unless you are planning on throwing this together in a couple of weeks, you will naturally have a fair amount of time to get some extra money and to hunt for bargains. Ultimately you will probably end up spending less, as in your quest to buy cheap and then replace you will come to embody the principal of "buy cheap, buy twice."

Glad the cdf was some inspiration, also @negaatio Orloski surprisingly never gets old does it.

Regarding the possibility of upgrading to hydro, that's why I chose 5800 so could change the shifters whilst keeping mechs if desired. My Spyres with standard cables and stock pads are great as mentioned but cables may satisfy or allow you to enjoy until hydro prices drop.

Re 650b would recommend but am still cynical about how easy it will be to source good tyres in say 5 years once the scene has moved on.

Reigniting this, thanks to all above for the feedback. Having taken the feedback on the "buy nice or buy twice" vibe, I'm rescuing my Bianchi which was turned into a commuting fixie skidder for a good few months.

Acquired a 105 5800 from @andymatthews and I've ordered the various other bits and bobs I'll need to get this up and running. The idea being on my limited budget, by a component that would be on the do it all bike, then next time I can look to get another component that will go to the new one as well, until I eventually have the do it all (this makes sense to me I think). Since the groupset can represent a large chunk of a new build cost I felt this made sense.

Picture from mid stripping:

Managed to get everything off apart from the bottom bracket (there is a special place in hell for people that don't grease components before installing them). I foolishly didn't take it apart and regrease when I got it off eBay so maybe some of this is on me.

Hopefully visiting the thoroughly helpful and nice chap that is @jsabine this weekend to use his collection of wrenches and for the 2nd time eff and jeff and get the bugger out.

Plan is to get this up with the groupset and wheels from its original life as a roadie (Mavic Kyseriums) and the waaay to wide blummels I have laying around (unless anyone has madea similar cock up and would swap me or a narrower pair!) and ride it through the winter.

When into the new year, I'll make the decision about whether 25s and guards is suffice for the riding I'll be doing until we move out of London. I'll also decide on paint then as well, I was considering a spray.bike job but given some of the recent experiences on here, think I'll wait and if this becomes a go to bike, get a proper paint job done.

Finally up and running, massive the @jsabine for helping me remove the stuck BB, chase and face the shell and providing top coffee and chat (hope the beer was good! Will drop the headset spanners round this week). Everything installed and checked, indexing at the back leaves a bit to be desired but it'll get there. Will get the better half with the better camera to get a decent photo for the gram, this was the best a bleary eyed me could do before the commute!

Cool. Rotate bars back a bit?

Rotate bars back a bit?

The bar angle is fine; the shifters need to be placed higher up the bend of the bars.

If you place a ruler / straight-edge along the bottom of the handlebar (so it points forward, parallel to the bar, sort of like in the screenshot), the angle it makes gives you a point to set the bottom paddle of the shifter. I was once told. I've used this as rule of thumb and it seems to work pretty well for me :-)

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I just place the bar wherever feels comfortable to cruise with the hands on the drops and then put the shifters pointing slightly upwards, almost flat. I guess is personal preference anyways

Thanks @russmeyer @Tijs @richardshill @Netakure for the tips, I actually woke up on time for once so had time to tweak this. Looked at the bar position on my Dolan and emulated that, and then used the ruler tip for setting the shifters. Still having serious shifting issues. Rear is passable but the font just will not shift up to matter how many times I reorganise it. I think the dodgy cuts I made on the cable outers due to a lack of proper pliers is causing the cable to move poorly. Come payday will treat myself to a decent pair of cutters, some new inners and try again.

As much as I would love this to be a lower budget version of @Ecobeard amazing Rourke, the clearance on the front fork is about 4mm which all but rules that out.

From the pile of abandoned bikes where I live I've found a suitable MTB for turning into a biblical rain commuter, with this for inspiration. I think this may be more suitable than trying to find a crazy low clearance long mudguard for the bianchi. Even if I can, totally building it up for shop running anyway.

PlanetX have clippers at 60% off - now £8
Not sure how good they are but better than scissors:-)

Oh ta

Didn't know that the winter Rourke was coveted 🤗

Tbh I had very little clearance on the front of the Rourke (with 28's) which is odd as the clearance is enourmous at the back, I thought it was a fork switch at first, but the stamped numbers match up and Rourke can't tell me anymore detail than they did build it. But anyway, I hunted around the back of BC and in the bins for a while and eventually found a front mudguard that had a 'clip' for under the fork crown/brake bridge, so the mudguard didn't actually go under the crown, if that makes sense, just the clip did, and then the mudguard started again.

I think SKS did some a while ago perhaps?

Anyway an MTB conversion sounds wicked and I look forward to seeing it unfold!

damn sight better than my Wilko wire cutters. Depending what the mudguard situation ends up being I may order some from CRC

Well, it is by me! Yeah I'm in a similar situation, could easily for 28s + guards at the back but 25s have almost nothing on the crown. Think these may be what you have? Might pop down to either Cycle PS or make the long trip to BC and see if they have a single front of it. I wouldn't want to lose the full coverage on the rear with one of these, but need the nifty solution at the front. Or I could by two sets and try and offload the remainders on here. Or I could do an build a bike around an odd component as is the style these days...

build a bike around an odd component

All my bikes are, I've always been an odd component :-)

If you do go down, I basically go out the back and scour the rubbish heap/abandoned bikes/frames etc. I'm sure they will let you if you make a tip pot donation/go armed with booze.

The front Mudguard I have is similar to that, but its not sks, its a very very thin bracket that I have never seen before, I'll try and take a photo next week for you.

Try to get set the cable free of the shifters and move it manually. If it's not working it's the cuts or some dodgy bend, just open the ends with a pen or something and make sure there's no tight bends

That Stumpy is rad.

They look like classic bend bars so usually the bottoms are about level with the ground, in which case you'd need to rotate the levers back quite a bit.

If it's the 105 mech with the long arm, you need quite a bit of tension in the cable to get it to shift.

The rear is short I think, for an 11/28 cassette. They both seem to have quite fine tolerances which for a novice at more than one gear bikes is a challenge!

Tell me about it, looks the sort of bike someone put together just for odd jobs and ends up riding more than anything else

I meant the front mech. If it's got an arm on it like this one, then you'll need quite alot of tension in the cable to get it to shift well. It's not just a case of pulling the cable finger tight, you'll probably need to add some turns on the barrel adjuster on the downtube.

Bit of an update: the bianchi has moved on to pastures new, after having ridden my Dolan to Brighton and on commuting duties I remember how much I loved riding with one gear. SO in predictable fashion I managed to find a used Pompino on gumtree and here we are:

Guards stays need trimming urgently but otherwise its so nice to ride to work and remain dry!

Other jobs for the weekend will be:

• Slam stem
  
• Drops and re wiring brakes
  
• Investigate wheel play I've had on my Dolan, think the wheel bearings need replacing
  
• Locate new seatpost and saddle (the ones pictured were taken from the Dolan)
  
• De-sticker rear wheel
  
  

Longer term, definitely thinking of putting a wald on the front and respraying. @MechaMorgan has been helpful in explaing the process for the Pinnacle and if I can get close to how that looks I'l be stoked